You Know You Live in the Suburbs When...

There is one major difference between living in the city and the suburbs that we weren't expecting: Tweens and teens run the joint. In the city, kids know their place. They're in an adult world and behave as such. Not so much out here where kids are allowed to roam free with no supervision and make no apologies for acting like jerks.

Our first lesson was when I kicked two 12 year olds out of Starbucks. (Yes, I even threw in a "You should be ashamed of yourself" for good measure.) They were disruptive and then threatened to kill everyone there once they realized they had my attention. This came after complaining about their parents getting them the wrong color I-phones and mentions of punching their mothers. People were minding their own business, trying to get some work done, read a book, enjoy a latte... And no one else thought this was worthy of getting involved, except for me. Of course. So, I asked them to leave and threatened to call the police.

Then, last week a neighbor's house was tagged suburb style. Obviously, there was a party. And, these kids are brazen enough to announce it on the front of their house. (In this picture you can't see the "Get Crunk!" written on the picture window. What is crunk, anyway?)

I have to admit, a little part of me wanted to call the police. Not because I care that these kids were partying or getting crunked, but because they were brazen enough to announce it. When I was up to stuff like that in high school, my friends and I worked painstakingly hard on covering our tracks. We got our stories straight, limited parties to small numbers, and parked blocks away all in an attempt to remain under the radar. And these kids just broadcast it. They didn't deserve to have a good time.

So, while no phone call was made, the fact that I thought about it scares me all the same.